darthtatty
Been There, Done That, Going Back!
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2008
- Messages
- 3,027
Day 5-Monday 15th August 2011 Islands Of Adventure
After a good nights sleep we woke early and got ready. We decided not to book a disabled room, so we could book it online. However it had a walk in shower-not sure if all rooms are like this? It was a nice and comfortable room, shame we didnt get more time in it.
One of the main advantages of staying at a Universal hotel is you get early entry into the park , however we werent too bothered about getting in extra early, it was just nice to take it easy.
I packed our overnight bag ready to leave it with bell services, it was a struggle-I had to pack and unpack many times. I forgot about leaving room for all the extra shopping we'd do.
After we packed we went downstairs, checked out, and then booked a cab to pick us up later at the hotel. while Matt was checking out-which seemed to take a long while Luke and I took a few pictures.
Then we headed for breakfast, we decided before we came just to get a quick bite rather than booking a character meal. We headed to Emack & Bolio's, it was a shop/coffe shop combined. Luke & Matt had donuts, I got a ham,cheese and egg roll.
We then decided to head to Universals Islands Of Adventure. I really didnt fancy the walk today, my back was hurting and it was so hot. We were going to wait for the boat but in the heat it was too much, then i decided to go on this........
Luke came with me, there was no room for Lukes chair as it doesnt collapse, so Matt walked it to Universal. Luke and I loved the bike ride, you dont have to pay them-however they do rely on tips as they arent paid. Luke and I waited for Matt by Universal entrance, Matt was only about 5mins. We all then walked to IOA entrance, I think we got there for the parks normal opening time.
There was only one thing to do when entering IOA-head to WWOHP!
We went anti-clockwise around the park, we could see the castle as we went round.
soon enough we were at the entrance.....
It was already stating to get busy, so we headed to look around the shops. I knew it would be a nightmare for us later when theyd be busy.
We decided to come back and buy something later.
Obviously we had to try Butterbeer. I went to the hogs head as id heard it was quicker here than waiting for the carts outside. It was, however they had problems and stopped serving it just before i was to be served. They still had the frozen one, so I brought one in the souvenir mug.
We thought it was ok (Luke wasnt too keen) but wanted to try the 'normal' one so I queued up at the cart.
I also got a bottle of pumpkin juice- I tried a sip of it later and thought it was like liquid carrot cake, I enjoyed it. However as i hadnt put it in my cool bag it was warm, so I got rid of it.
Butterbeer- I really enjoyed it, much nicer than the frozen one. To me it tasted of cream soda and butterscotch, Matt enjoyed it too. Luke however was disappointed, he'd been so looking forward to it and then he didnt like it.
We finished looking around the area, we did go in a couple more shops but didnt buy anything.
We decided to head for The Forbidden Journey. The queue time was 120 minutes, we went to ask the staff memeber where was the best place to go with the wheelchair. I wanted Luke to view the castle but suspected he wouldnt be able to do the ride. We were expecting him to give us a time to come back later, however he just directed us to the entrance and told us to go right in. We were surprised and I think we looked it too as he said to us-yeah its as easy as that. We thanked him and rushed straight in-another bit of luck for us!
We all enjoyed looking around the castle and took our time looking around. If we wanted to stop and look at anything properly we just let the people behind us go ahead. I thought theyd done everything really well and loved all the details. The moving pictures were very cool. The ride was very good, I chose not to ride it but Matt loved it.
We then brought quite a few WWOHP items in the shop before going onto- The flight of the hippogriff.
Before we left the area we decide to head back and look around again before getting more Butterbeer.



After a good nights sleep we woke early and got ready. We decided not to book a disabled room, so we could book it online. However it had a walk in shower-not sure if all rooms are like this? It was a nice and comfortable room, shame we didnt get more time in it.
One of the main advantages of staying at a Universal hotel is you get early entry into the park , however we werent too bothered about getting in extra early, it was just nice to take it easy.
I packed our overnight bag ready to leave it with bell services, it was a struggle-I had to pack and unpack many times. I forgot about leaving room for all the extra shopping we'd do.
After we packed we went downstairs, checked out, and then booked a cab to pick us up later at the hotel. while Matt was checking out-which seemed to take a long while Luke and I took a few pictures.

Then we headed for breakfast, we decided before we came just to get a quick bite rather than booking a character meal. We headed to Emack & Bolio's, it was a shop/coffe shop combined. Luke & Matt had donuts, I got a ham,cheese and egg roll.
We then decided to head to Universals Islands Of Adventure. I really didnt fancy the walk today, my back was hurting and it was so hot. We were going to wait for the boat but in the heat it was too much, then i decided to go on this........


Luke came with me, there was no room for Lukes chair as it doesnt collapse, so Matt walked it to Universal. Luke and I loved the bike ride, you dont have to pay them-however they do rely on tips as they arent paid. Luke and I waited for Matt by Universal entrance, Matt was only about 5mins. We all then walked to IOA entrance, I think we got there for the parks normal opening time.
There was only one thing to do when entering IOA-head to WWOHP!
We went anti-clockwise around the park, we could see the castle as we went round.


soon enough we were at the entrance.....



It was already stating to get busy, so we headed to look around the shops. I knew it would be a nightmare for us later when theyd be busy.




We decided to come back and buy something later.
Obviously we had to try Butterbeer. I went to the hogs head as id heard it was quicker here than waiting for the carts outside. It was, however they had problems and stopped serving it just before i was to be served. They still had the frozen one, so I brought one in the souvenir mug.

We thought it was ok (Luke wasnt too keen) but wanted to try the 'normal' one so I queued up at the cart.
I also got a bottle of pumpkin juice- I tried a sip of it later and thought it was like liquid carrot cake, I enjoyed it. However as i hadnt put it in my cool bag it was warm, so I got rid of it.



Butterbeer- I really enjoyed it, much nicer than the frozen one. To me it tasted of cream soda and butterscotch, Matt enjoyed it too. Luke however was disappointed, he'd been so looking forward to it and then he didnt like it.
We finished looking around the area, we did go in a couple more shops but didnt buy anything.



We decided to head for The Forbidden Journey. The queue time was 120 minutes, we went to ask the staff memeber where was the best place to go with the wheelchair. I wanted Luke to view the castle but suspected he wouldnt be able to do the ride. We were expecting him to give us a time to come back later, however he just directed us to the entrance and told us to go right in. We were surprised and I think we looked it too as he said to us-yeah its as easy as that. We thanked him and rushed straight in-another bit of luck for us!



We all enjoyed looking around the castle and took our time looking around. If we wanted to stop and look at anything properly we just let the people behind us go ahead. I thought theyd done everything really well and loved all the details. The moving pictures were very cool. The ride was very good, I chose not to ride it but Matt loved it.
We then brought quite a few WWOHP items in the shop before going onto- The flight of the hippogriff.
Before we left the area we decide to head back and look around again before getting more Butterbeer.